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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28235886">Never Meant to Lie</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobuttsInYourThighs/pseuds/RobuttsInYourThighs'>RobuttsInYourThighs</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death, Death, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mutual Pining, Sad Ending, Slow Burn, Unhappy Ending, War, don't get your hopes up</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:00:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,870</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28235886</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobuttsInYourThighs/pseuds/RobuttsInYourThighs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A doctor forced into the duties of a Medic, a gladiator willfully stepping into the role of soldier, two different mechs with two vastly different end-goals to a war neither expected to last so long. Two idiots who cannot properly confirm or act on feelings they developed for one another.</p><p>Sparkache, suffering, comfort, and a promise that should have never been made.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ratchet/Soundwave (Transformers)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ratchet hauled yet another body out of harm’s way, as far as he could on an undeclared battlefield at least. Cybertron had spiraled into chaos so suddenly that he hadn’t had time to prepare himself for the levels of pain he’d be putting himself through as a medic. He steeled himself every morning, knowing he would see graying bodies, mechs that he knew, mechs that he would never know, mechs that would beg him for a second chance and mechs he would have to make empty promises to. It was hell on his nerves and mental well being. He tried to take time to be alone every day, only after the last of his triage patients had been stabilized. It was all he could do to try processing the horrors of war all around him each day.</p><p>Every time he saw Orion, or rather Optimus, he would avoid his gaze. He was so far removed from his former self outwardly; He was built for battle and towered over his peers, he spoke with purpose but was still gentle in a strangely reassuring way. It was alien to the doctor-turned-medic to see the reserved archivist leading troops called “Autobots”, but he knew that the other had a good spark and purpose. He would be the one to lead Cybertron back to civility and safety, but looking at his friend made him contemplate too deeply on how long and tumultuous that journey may be.</p><p>They’d been briefed recently with more intel regarding the higher officers among the enemy ranks; They called themselves Decepticons. The Decepticon belief was that a society that deceives and profits from a class caste system and limits citizens freedoms based on their function was cruel, redundant, and needs to be dismantled. It was extreme, but only took deep roots and action after the council donned the Matrix of Leadership onto Orion, now Optimus.</p><p>Megatronus, the leader of this radicalizing faction, donned a new designation in turn as Megatron. The large imposing mech worked for countless years in the mines of Cybertron, making a name for himself as a gladiator. Through the fame and title he held in Kaon word of his ideals began to spread and weed their way out of the ‘lesser’ city and to under-appreciated Cybertronians across the city-states. Eventually the archivist Orion Pax caught word of this fascinating and bold mech and had sought out his company to learn more of his experiences and unique insight.</p><p>Their budding camaraderie was short-lived, however. After they both approached the council with pleas and hope for change, each with their own way of presenting their ideals, Orion was rewarded with the Matrix of Leadership and announced as the next Prime while Megatronus of Kaon was spurned and sent away. The rift was, for both of them, something that could not be overcome to reach peace between each other. Through Megatronus’s, now Megatron’s, widespread and varied connections he managed to find himself in the good graces of a highly ambitious high ranking Vosian.</p><p>Starscream was haughty and easy to under-estimate at a glance. Everyone had a passed down belief that fliers, particularly the speedy and sleek seekers, were generally only good for being fast, aerial military defense, and being easy on the optics. This mech in particular came in a trio – his Trine included a slightly heavier mech named Thundercracker, identifiable by his primary matte blue finish, and their darker third companion who was a deep purple and black combo by the designation Skywarp. His spark was an exceptionally gifted one in that it gave him the ability to warp from one place to another, though not always gracefully. Thundercracker had a knack for diving into enemy lines and blowing Autobots away with the sheer force of his landings and his thruster-heavy take-offs, usually resulting in thunderous sonic booms that rolled over the battlefield.</p><p>Starscream was in a class all his own. He was in charge of bringing Megatron’s message to the Senate, being that he was of high enough status in Vos to be humored by being permitted an audience. The message, to the horror of the world, was death. He unleashed an assault that was so swift and violent it was said that when the last body fell there was no hint of the seeker’s actual colors under the heavy coats of the shed energon from the slain Senators. He used to have a fine pristine white, red and blue finish that framed his handsome dark gray angular features, but after his slaughter of the senate he underwent some major cosmetic (and perhaps some invasive) procedures.</p><p>He was nearly a matching gunmetal gray to Megatron, and his frame was far sleeker and faster than that of his Trinemates. His extreme pedes were more than noticeable, looking laughably ill suited for someone supposedly capable of such power, but the laughter did not last when he was snuffing the sparks of his enemies under-foot.</p><p>There was another mech behind the scenes that was supplying the Decepticons with more and more advanced destructive technology but their identity had yet to be fully confirmed. Wheeljack was almost positive it was a former senator that had been ousted and suffered through empurata that went by the designation Shockwave. The mech was still very secretive but it was said he had built in a permanently affixed weapon to his arm and altered his vehicle mode to that of an unauthorized tank.</p><p>Ratchet was worried about another mech close to Megatron, a fellow gladiator named Soundwave. So little was known about him outside of his ever climbing death toll. He was the one that raised Ratchet’s heckles the most. He had managed to save several Autobots that had crossed his path and all of them gave terrifying accounts of a ‘faceless mech’ with ‘too many arms’. It chilled him to wonder what kind of deranged form this monster took. Even stranger were reports of ‘symbiotes’ or ‘drones’ that would detach from him and attack those that managed to get within range to attempt melee weapons on him.</p><p>Shaking his helm, the dark orange and white bot eased himself down into his cot, trying to catch a little rest while things were quiet. No less than two hours later he was abruptly shaken from his slumber by an explosion. Their makeshift base had been found and attacked under the dark of night. It was chaos; Headlights were lit up and blinding from panicked bots rushing around Ratchet, his own emergency lights flaring up for a few seconds. Smoke started to pour in and he knew something was burning and he didn’t have time to assess what or where, only that he had to grab his limited medical supplies. He packed what he could into his already stuffed subspace and grabbed a massive pack of essential patches, extra soldering metals and I.L. packs. It was heavy but he was built to carry the load.</p><p>He fought to attach the large expansion pack to his back but without assistance he just looked like a panicked fool. Optimus shouted distantly for anyone left to evacuate before another wave hit, something about it being an aerial attack. Pops and booms echoed distantly, Skywarp and Thundercracker most likely aiding Starscream in leading an assault. Bastards WOULD strike at night, he cursed internally. His comm lit up, yet another distraction to his struggle with the pack.</p><p>:Ratchet, where are you??: Optimus was somehow able to sound calm amidst the crackles of fire and falling rubble from the building near them that had been struck.</p><p>:Still inside, getting the surplus supplies-: he answered hastily. :I could really use a hand!:</p><p>:Leave it, there’s no time!: THAT didn’t sound calm. There was a rolling rumble that rattled through the doctor’s chest, and all at once he was being thrown off his pedes and swept into a pile of loose debris and broken medical equipment. He shut down his audial receptors, unable to think with all of the scraping and crashing around him. The ground below him felt like it was shifting and moving over and over.</p><p>“I JUST WANT TO CATCH MY SLAGGING BALANCE, JUST GIVE ME THAT!” He shouted to no one but Primus himself, furious that he couldn’t have a single moment to put on that blasted pack.</p><p>:Ratchet!: Optimus called into his comm again.</p><p>:GIVE ME A MINUTE!: He hauled himself out of the mess, ignoring the dents and scrapes to his plating and slamming the hard-shell pack on the ground. “Slag it all,” he turned his back to the pack, glancing back just once before throwing himself backwards on it. The damned thing actually snapped into place! He laughed in surprise that it had worked, feeling the connections online with his systems, approving all pings as he jogged out of the devastated camp to look for his team, optics scanning for bodies all the while. He was somewhat glad not to see any grayed husks, though in the back of his processor worried there were some he missed under rubble. He had to keep shoving those thoughts down to focus on moving forward.</p><p>He saw the Autobots retreating over a hill and knew he may need to be more cautious on his own, Decepticons had no respect for field medics and had zero qualms with capturing them or simply eliminating them. He kept low and close to the taller sections of still settling debris, vaguely grateful for the layer of dust that muddled up his normally stark-white paint. He ducked down and stilled when he saw distant seekers flying in his direction. They banked sharply before they reached him, clearly intending to double back for the still retreating Autobot group. Ratchet knew he should wait but he wanted to send an alert. He pinged Optimus a short-range comm to warn of the incoming trio.</p><p>A loud crackling pop sounded to his side and he was assaulted by blaster-fire. He tried to jump out of the way, finding the hefty pack hindered his movements enough to make him panic slightly that he might not be able to get away cleanly. Another wave of blasts had him tucking down into the rubble, trying to think fast on how to get out of this.</p><p>“MEDIC!” He shouted. “I’M JUST A MEDIC!” He tried to show his hands in surrender, pulling them back when another shot nearly hit him.</p><p>“A medic??” Skywarp laughed, far too genuinely amused by his statement. “Doesn’t make you any less of an AUTOBOT does it?” Ratchet heard the crackling noise once again, tensing and listening for the next sign of movement. Light flickered from nothing in the middle of the air just above him. As soon as the finishing flash of the other’s teleportation lit up he shoved his fist upward, landing a punch blindly with as much force as he could. He honestly hadn’t expected the other to cry out and certainly didn’t expect the other to double over.</p><p>He’d managed to connect a direct hit to the seeker’s cockpit, broken glass crumpling inward and making the purple mech panic and warp away as he stepped back from him. Another pop further away behind him told him he hadn’t gone far. “I thought you said y-you were a MEDIC!” If he didn’t know any better he’d think he was <em>whining</em>.</p><p>“Oh I am,” he called over, shaking his sore servo out. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t defend myself.” He stood enough to look over at him, still feeling a strange pang of guilt for the damage he’d inflicted even in self defense. The seeker took a knee, still holding onto his injured chest. It only needed a wide spanning patch, really, but there he was some scary seeker he was supposed to be, Ratchet thought. “Overgrown sparkling,” he grumbled and pulled out a mini kit, tossing it over to the wounded seeker.</p><p>He looked at it, then to the medic, and back to the tiny kit that bounced over. “It’s self-adhesive!” Ratchet shouted, making the jet snarl and point his null-ray his way. “Just take it! Quit pouting and get out of here if you can’t take a punch!” He really just-! The NERVE! Skywarp stepped away, ‘vworp’ing out of sight. Ratchet shook his helm and started to get up to move on but froze when he heard the signature sound, but in the same spot. He peaked over just in time to see him bitterly snatch up the med pack, wincing and repeating “Ow ow ow” from the act of bending over, and then ‘vworp’ed away once more.</p><p>Ratchet scoffed and started to move with purpose, wanting to get out of the open and caught up with the rest of the Autobot squad he was grouped with. He could still feel and hear distant thunder, assuming it was more from Thundercracker. He couldn’t stop his optics from sweeping the uneven ground, just in case. ALWAYS just in case. He paused a few times when he would see something that looked like a limb or a servo, or too much energon pooling together in the twisted debris. Time and again it was nothing, and he was both frazzled and grateful for the lack of carnage.</p><p>He sent a short range ping, hoping Optimus would pick up on it and that the group wasn’t terribly far ahead. Static was the only response for the next hour. He was feeling far too tired and low on energy, the extra weight he was lugging was taking more of a toll than he’d anticipated. It was hard to keep from dragging his pedes, strained cables and taut lines making every lift of a leg feel more like an overused leg exercise. Time dragged as the medic trekked beyond the demolished temporary Autobot camp, no longer able to recognize the city they were posted in.</p><p>This wasn’t the Cybertron he thought they would be fighting for; mountains of rubble and destruction for miles, smoke and dust that burned the optics and never seemed to settle. There was a constant sense of unease, potential danger hanging in the air that made one’s plating flare and set the sensory net on edge. The scrape and drag of his heavy boots filled Ratchet’s audials, numbing him to anything else. How long had he been unfocused like that? He lifted his helm for what felt like the first time in half an hour or so, glancing around himself and pausing to take in any movement.</p><p>He could swear there was a slight scraping nearby, something scrabbling under the rubble not too far away from him. Distressed squeals and clattering of thin metal began in earnest but settled quickly. It was something alive, surely, and so the Autobot made his way toward it to see if he could help. His steps were noisy enough to alert whatever it was to panic and make more noise, sounding more like tonal-beeps than something from a vocoder. Was it some sort of mechanimal? There shouldn’t be anything like that in the city, but considering the vast amount of destruction it wouldn’t surprise Ratchet so much that wild creatures would be displaced- rather the fact any survived was much more interesting. He hoisted up a large sheet of warped metal, lifting crumbled cement with it. He could hear the struggling critter much more clearly and it spurred him to move faster.</p><p>“Hang on, I’ve almost got you,” he grumbled to whatever it was, not knowing if him speaking would calm it or have the opposite effect. There! A flash of color amongst the matte grays! Something deep blue, feint flashes of panicked purple bio-lights lighting up. The worried peeping picked up in volume and intensity as more of it was uncovered. Before the medic could fully free it or even think about getting his hands on it he was struck with a small but sharp blaster shot to the arm. Reeling back and sliding down the hill of the ruins he was helpless as the feisty aerial creature freed itself and tried to take to the air.</p><p>The injured creature hovered weakly and didn’t get far before it plummeted back down, landing with a painful sounding scrape on the other side of the rubble. Not giving up just yet Ratchet pulled himself back up and climbed to the top of the hill to see what exactly had tried to attack him and make an escape. The poor thing was dual-winged with no apparent landing gear, a tiny visor flashing in alarm along with its bio-lights. He made his way closer to it, servos up as he tried to smooth out his EM Field, exuding calm and kindness.</p><p>“Hey hey, shhh, relax little guy, I’m not trying to hurt you,” he glanced to his medic brand and pointed to it, hoping on some level it might understand. It couldn’t be a drone, not with it behaving so fearfully, but it certainly wasn’t like any naturally occurring wildlife he’d ever heard of. The beeping seemed to settle somewhat, so Ratchet took another cautious step, then another. He knelt low before he got too close, seeing where it had the tiniest little blasters aimed at him. Certainly reminded him of a drone. “Can I look you over? See what’s got you all busted up?”</p><p>The creature didn’t fuss or fire, but it did give a tired and low beep. He could only take its lack of hostility as a go-ahead. Carefully he scooped his hands under the tiny bot and lifted it up from the unkind rough ground. Its wings were certainly crumpled on its left side, both sets. It was comprised of so many fine points and what should have been delicate smooth planes of metal. Seeing it in such a sorry state was almost painful for the new medic to take in.</p><p>“I can take you with me,” he turned it over, realizing it had been on its back after observing the placement of its visor and guns. The being panicked anew, fluttering and trying to get away from him. “Or not, I don’t have to, I won’t take you if you don’t want to-” Oh. It was a Decepticon wasn’t it? The bot settled once more, a strong sense of fear and worry resonated from it and he nodded. “Field treatment it is,” he heaved a sigh and took a knee.</p><p>When the mini-flier calmed again he rested it upon his leg and ran a quick-scan, identifying the most pressing crimped wires and bits of armor that he could fix outwardly. He explained each little step he was about to perform, not knowing if it it truly understood him or not. It took several long, careful minutes but Ratchet finally had the bulk of its main wing smoothed out. He could tell from the low, barely audible tones that it was still in a great deal of discomfort.</p><p>“Do you trust me to give you a little bit of a numbing agent? It might mean you won’t be able to fly right away, but I can get you somewhere sheltered while you recover or wait. I know you’re not on… <em>my</em> side, so I can’t wait with you.” It was gut wrenching to have to leave a patient, but if another ‘Con came across him they surely would attack as Skywarp had tried to. The small bot beeped and almost chittered up at him, the sensation in its field far less hostile and pleading. He took this as yet another consent to proceed and he eased the bot down to the ground before sending a signal to unlatch his additional pack.</p><p>The heavy case hissed as the latches came undone at his command, the next moment it landed with a heavy thud behind Ratchet. He moved quick, knowing exactly where he’d stored every bit of equipment regardless of how much of a hurry he’d been in when he packed it. Finding a nanite gel and a numbing agent was the easy part, now he just had to measure and apply it quickly and properly. Needle in hand he leaned over the flier, murmuring soothing words as it tittered up at him.</p><p>“I know,” he spoke softly with his attention aimed at the seam of the bot’s wing and main body, “I’m big and scary and you don’t know me,” he slipped the pointed tip of the tool between the plates and pricked a main line. “These are nanites, it’ll speed things up,” he continued to treat it like any sentient patient. “The next is the numbing agent, that I have to brush over your wing and put a mesh on it so nothing sticks to you.” He moved as he had said he would, using a delicate brush to apply the liquid numbing solution over the still painful creases in its wing and over the lower one that he didn’t trust fixing in the field. After he applied the wrap he sat back on his haunches and heaved a vent.</p><p>“There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” He offered a tired smile and was pleased when the creature started to beep and wiggle, expressing something akin to relief or maybe even gratitude for his work. “Yeah, I bet it feels better. You had a lot of weight on that wing, so you’d better get it looked at as soon as you can.” The tiny bot managed to turn itself around and hopped closer, nuzzling up to his knee. It was endearing and for a moment Ratchet pretended he wasn’t an Autobot Medic caring for a drone-like Decepticon. Just a doctor helping a non-verbal patient perhaps. He carefully rested a servo over its back, nodding at its peeps that picked up in excitement and volume.</p><p>“Yip-ip-ip, don’t get too excited now,” he chided gently, trying to get it to settle down. “I have to hide you somewhere if you’ll let me,” he tried to get his hands around it but the bot wiggled and tried to take to the air, tilting hard from its mesh-weighted wing. “No, stop that, you’ll just hurt it again!” He grabbed onto it and the bot struggled more, making him grow more concerned with the sudden onset of erratic behavior. He was about to take a firmer tone while still struggling to get a grip on him, but in an instant everything rushed from his grasp and he felt the weightlessness of free fall.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A little bit from Soundwave and the gang's perspective.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He felt weight around his neck and torso and an indescribable amount of force milliseconds before he was airborne and flung far from the tiny bot. The next thing Ratchet recalled was pain throughout his backstrut and helm, finding himself in a pit of glass and metal. His processor was reeling, trying to run self-diagnostic and put together what exactly just happened? How did he get thrown? Was he THROWN? He righted himself and hissed at the pain shooting up his back and through his torso. He felt stuck and pulled, gasping and collapsing back again at the blinding pain he was in. His diagnostic indicated several ruptured sectors, from back to front.</p><p>He had to have been pierced by something and he didn’t want to look to see what it was, but he had a feeling it wasn’t going to be pretty. Distantly he could hear the tiny bot beeping but it was too far to tell if it too was distressed. What if it was in danger too? Ratchet felt his energy renew, the need to protect overwhelming the numbing pain wracking his sensornet. He foolishly shoved his elbows under himself and shoved, the shard of metal that had pierced his armor sliding out and unleashing the energon it had been barely keeping in.</p><p>Alert after alert flooded his HUD and he aggressively dismissed them, the need to get to his patient overriding his personal safety. It was so little, and those tiny guns would hardly stave off anything bigger than itself. Holding one hand to his torso and he other shifting into a blaster the medic hauled himself up from the pit he’d landed in.</p><p>He was optic level with two long, well-armored legs in an oddly familiar shade of blue. He aimed his blaster up before his helm lifted high enough to see his enemy and was swiftly gripped and thrown into the air once more, but the pressure never left him. Something cinched tighter around his arm and his torso, preventing him from aiming his weapon in one grip while the other coil of pressure around his waist trapped his servo to his wound. He cleared away the last of his warnings and was able to take in his new alarming situation.</p><p>Ratchet found himself suspended mid-air by long, firm cables that stretched down to a tall, imposing blue mech set between the Autobot and the mini-flier. Everything about this mech, from how stealthily he had come upon the unsuspecting medic to his unusually angular frame and ‘tentacles’ screamed ‘Decepticon’, yet it was very unlike anyone he’d ever seen before. The captured bot focused his optics on the mech’s face, which was not a face at all; an emotionless visor met his gaze. Every line ran cold, his spark pulsing hard in its casing as many horrifying pieces of a puzzle fell into place.</p><p>This was the mech… This was the Decepticon he’d heard rumor of but had yet to see for himself.</p><p>Faceless – too many arms – <em>SYMBIOTES</em> that could <em>DETATCH </em>from the host.</p><p><em>This</em> was Soundwave.</p><p>He could already see where the tiny flier he’d helped could fill space on one of the mech’s arms, the asymmetrical widths hardly unnoticeable. Would he be able to convince him to back off as he had with Skywarp? He strained against the grip on his blaster, trying to shift it back into a servo and only serving to jam some gears and dislocate delicate kibble that was blocked from moving. He would have to resort to begging, or at least shouting the situation at the other and hoping he was reasonable and merciful.</p><p>“HEY- BEFORE YOU GO RIPPING ME IN HALF-” He felt a rush of fear as the coil around his neck and the coil holding his waist began to pull in opposing directions. He snarled angrily and continued again. “I said BEFORE you do that! Just know I’m a MEDIC and I helped your little friend down there! I didn’t come here to fight!!” There was a stillness, the pulling stopped but the pressure didn’t let up. He could see the tiny flier struggling to move closer to its host by alternating between flapping and pulling with its wings on the ground. Yet another cable made its way from the statue-like mech, slithering through the air toward the injured mini-bot. The way it honed in on it precisely without the mech needing to turn his helm was extremely unnerving, yet fascinating.</p><p>With the utmost care the cable nudged under and around the smaller creature and lifted it, bringing it closer and moving it to the blue Decepticon’s thinner arm. With a bit of strain it carefully initiated a transformation sequence, intricate lines reaching out and latching to the plating before fanning and resettling in a sleek and seamless grip around the host’s arm. The injured wing sections were still apparent from there, but it was at least able to move and reattach properly, though Ratchet was still irked that it did something so risky without being fully cleared by a medical professional to do so.</p><p>The Decepticon officer was still for a moment, keeping Ratchet where he was while seeming to deliberate. What Ratchet couldn’t see was the series of data-packets being uploaded from the symbiote to the host. Slowly the powerful mech tilted his helm to the medic, his cables moving in unison to lower their prey to the ground. Ratchet found his footing quickly enough, optics still focused on the imposing mech across from him, but made no move to retreat nor attack. His blaster was free to shift back into his servo completely, though it pinched all over from having been restrained before.</p><p>Soundwave retracted his cables to himself, making no further move to interact with him. It was an odd and tense standoff, neither speaking or moving for a long time. Soundwave lifted his arm, touching over the bandages Ratchet had placed, and gave a single nod to the Autobot. It seemed he understood what had happened and hopefully would not attack, so Ratchet nodded back and waited, grip tightening on the throbbing wound in his torso. The blue mech pivoted silently on his heel and began to walk away with no further qualms.</p><p>Ratchet exvented, not realizing his cooling systems had been stalled the entire time, and quickly tried to gather himself and find the best course of action to get patched up and get out of here. He hardly paid any mind to the Decepticon’s casual retreat. If he wanted me dead he’d have done it by now, he figured. He staggered toward his medical pack that was extremely far away now. How far had he been thrown?? He didn’t want to think about it really. He had to focus. Wait, where was he? Ratchet seemed to come around again, not realizing he’d fallen over. When did that happen?</p><p>It was strange that he wasn’t panicking, he mused. He could see his rapidly declining fuel percentages, the multiple critical injury points in his HUD, and he still felt the searing ache through his body where he’d been pierced by some debris that just HAD to be sticking out JUST RIGHT for this to happen. What dumb luck. Systems started to switch off to conserve energy, but it was useless. He was going to bleed out on the ground alone and having wasted his last few moments patching up a Decepticon. He scoffed, dust blowing away from his derma. The ground was cold and strangely comfortable as his body relaxed. He knew he didn’t mean it. He didn’t mind if he went out doing what was right.</p><p>--------------------------</p><p>HOT. HOT PAIN. Ratchet snapped his optics open, systems booting rapidly and reacting immediately to the pain deep in his gut. He tried to grab at it blindly, to stop whatever was in him. Wide blue optics searched and found a blank visor watching him, so close he could see his own pained face in it. He was being attacked?? The other had left?? A blade shot out from his forearm and he swung upwards- or at least he tried. He was pinned completely by those damned cables again. Why was everything so dark? His processor was swimming and disoriented with too much conflicting sensations and overloaded with pain and panic.</p><p>Something sharp stabbed his neck, then. No. More of a prick? Something cool flooded his lines and his optics lost their ability to focus. He remembered thinking it was odd, however, how some of the multiple warning notices seemed to close out without him having done so. At least he didn’t think he was closing them. Once more, everything faded to black.</p><p>-----------------------------</p><p>Soundwave hadn’t expected to hear the Autobot collapse after he’d started to leave. The mech hadn’t expected a lot of things that had happened that day to have happened. Laserbeak being injured was an unfortunate and unplanned event, and the moment he’d received her urgent ping he’d made his way to her last known location. He was so close to the Autobot base but he would never sacrifice his own for a simple tracking mission.</p><p>He couldn’t fly directly to her, as he’d be off balance with Ratbat on one arm but Laserbeak absent from the other. Her vitals hadn’t reflected anything too critical so he wasn’t terribly concerned with rushing to her rescue. More pings about being pinned, and then about an Autobot had Soundwave making his way much faster. He could see a mech knelt down over Laserbeak and her skittering to get away. He acted on pure instinct, using his cables to lash out and grab the assailant. He dug his leading pede into the ground and, with all the force he could muster, pulled up and away on the offending bot. He heaved himself back and in turn added more momentum to the cables and launched the assailant as if he weighed nothing. Soundwave didn’t even spare a second glance to where the mech landed, already advancing closer to Laserbeak to check on her.</p><p>He hadn’t expected bandages on her wing, nor the surprisingly unbroken finer points to be smoothed out. She rapidly tried to beep to him and communicate what exactly had happened. This was rare, the former gladiator mused to himself, to make anything akin to a mistake. He sent a wave of reassurance through their tiny bond to have her stay put, his field radiating calm cool control. She settled where she was, knowing to let Soundwave take charge and do what he felt was best.</p><p>The Decepticon crossed the distance from Laserbeak to the Autobot deftly, hardly disturbing the rubble as he moved. He was always analyzing, taking in his surroundings and scanning for heat and energy signatures. Anything and everything could be an ambush. He might not regret throwing the Autobot in the end, it would seem. Once he came upon the pit the mech had landed in he was met with the distinct glow of a charging blaster being lifted. With no sympathy he sent forth his cables again, intending on splitting the bot in half and just being done with it. His injury was critical enough, with enough force he would simply start to separate starting from the puncture wound.</p><p>The bot began to shout, to try reasoning with him. He was trying to change his blaster away, he could tell, but he couldn’t risk loosing it lest he turn it on him again. Laserbeak had appeared not too far off, trying to stop Soundwave. He replayed back what the Autobot had been saying, not actually having listened to him the first time as he was busy running full analytics on if he had been sending signals or alerts to anyone nearby and clearing the scene of any further possible danger. Perhaps it really was just some do-good Medic. A foolish Medic, at that.</p><p>He retrieved his creation delicately and allowed her to reconnect to his arm, trusting she wouldn’t do so if her internal systems had been tampered with. It was all surface damage and repairs then. She flooded him with panic and worry, sending everything that had transpired before he’d arrived and tossed the hapless Autobot away. Such was the way of things, he reminded her internally. His other creations chimed in almost in unison, chiding him and agreeing fully with Laserbeak that Soundwave had been too rash.</p><p>Taking in their input he lowered the Autobot to his pedes, mainly to placate them. When he was sure the medic wouldn’t tip over he retracted his cables to himself, lastly releasing his blaster. It reshaped into his servo and Soundwave was satisfied to wait for the Autobot to babble more, waste his time with words. He didn’t. Odd. He was conceding the first move to Soundwave, considering he was the ‘aggressor’ in all of this. He looked down to Laserbeak around his arm and lifted it before his chest, touching over the bandages and silently nodding in a show of thanks, not wanting to waste words on niceties with the enemy. After the bot nodded back he felt they’d reached an understanding. No further action needed.</p><p>He was going to leave things as they were, just go their separate ways. Then the Autobot collapsed. Soundwave paused, glancing back and confirming it was from the injuries sustained when he’d been thrown. Laserbeak flashed more anger-panic through her field and he turned to continue away, wanting to resume his reconnaissance. Another irritated wave up through her field, and suddenly Ratbat was making waves as well. He was feeding off of the distress from Soundwave’s opposite arm and joining in raucously.</p><p>The Decepticon officer had to try and explain with his creations why it was not logical to help the enemy, regardless of any kindness shown. More irritation and rebellion. Ravage stirred at last, his field washing over Soundwave’s chest.</p><p>:What harm will it do?: The gruff voice reached out through comm’s. :It could be a strategic advantage in the future: he added with a touch of amusement, knowing that the more they argued the more likely Soundwave would give in. The host mech flexed his fists and ran some numbers. Ravage wasn’t wrong. Of course he wasn’t. :Of course I’m not: he chimed in again. The mech pivoted in his elegant military fashion and marched toward the Autobot once again, this time with an intend to render aid.</p><p>Once he reached the felled bot he could see a dangerous amount of energon had left him, pooling under his chassis and seeping through the dirt and grime of the cracked ground below him. Laserbeak disengaged, using the height and a bit of thrust to drift haphazardly to the medical kit Ratchet had been trying to reach. Before Soundwave could send out his cables to pick up the medic the rest of his creations snapped to life.</p><p>His right arm first opened up, Ratbat noisily chittering and squeaking as he lifted away to join and check on his counterpart over the Autobot medical pack. Soundwave’s legs seemed to split and unwrap from the base, two mini-cons of identical height and build shifting away and rotating kibble around from deep matte blue into varying colors, one a lighter powdering shade of blue and the other a combination of dark red limbs and black chest. Aside from color the two appeared identical in every way.</p><p>:Rumble-Frenzy: Soundwave addressed the red mini and blue mini respectively. :Separation- Unnecessary.:</p><p>The duo scoffed in unison and defied him with an air of joy in doing so.</p><p>“Look boss,” Frenzy knelt down to the Autobot’s side closest to his injury, “I think if you pick him up again his insides are gonna be <em>outside</em>.” Rumble chuckled and agreed, touching the medic’s arm with his pede.</p><p>“He isn’t gonna get up on his own,” he observed. “Out for the count.” Frenzy agreed with his brother’s wise diagnosis of the patient’s state and the pair called over to Soundwave as they started toward the mini-fliers.</p><p>“We’ll get the gear!” How they could be so excited about helping the enemy was beyond the gladiator. Kindness was not something that was extended to just any random mech on the street, let alone a member of an enemy faction. He didn’t know what else to do to try and teach them any better, they simply had minds of their own and once in a while, like now, they didn’t align with his view of things. He was glad Ravage was content to continue staying linked on his chest, making himself one less creation to keep track of. It was dangerous to be in one place so long, even moreso to scatter carelessly.</p><p>Soundwave lowered his cables to the Autobot’s neck just over the armored collar of his chassis and connected easily to it, overriding immediate firewalls easily and taking in the other’s vitals. Oh. It was quite critical. He used his other cables to flip the Autobot onto his back, pausing when several of his creations shouted over at him to use caution. He dismissed it as unnecessary. He wasn’t being rough after all.</p><p>Rumble and Frenzy brought the medical pack to Soundwave, stepping back and waiting eagerly for instruction on what to do to be useful. Soundwave knelt and opened the pack compartments, emptying it out until he found tools worth using. This Autobot was certainly prepared, he thought to himself. It wasn’t that he was impressed, just noting the other’s forethought in packing supplies. Ravage seemed to hear him anyway and gave a wave of amusement, which was promptly ignored in order to focus on the task at hand.</p><p>If some of the deeper tears were not soldered soon the Autobot would simply bleed out and their time here would be wasted entirely. He took up a handheld narrow-point soldering gun and the sealing metal to use for such a repair. Without any preamble Soundwave pressed the nose of the tool and the rod of metal into the medic’s wound, seeking out exact points to close before he would be able to re-attach main lines.</p><p>Limbs flew upward and a guttural shout of pain left the bot’s vocalizer, arching in pain and making Soundwave just try to move faster, the gun heating and starting to set the melted metal over fractured internal mechanisms. The twins both jumped to either of the bot’s arms just as he unsheathed an energy blade.</p><p>“BOSS WHAT’RE YOU DOING?!”</p><p>“KNOCK HIM OUT!”</p><p>Soundwave paused and radiated annoyance in general. All of this emotion, yelling, panic. Unnecessary. Laserbeak chirped from the pack, nudging a bag of vials clearly marked as anesthetic. Rumble snatched the bag up, having to stretch from where he was trying to hold down one of the Autobot’s arms. Once he had the bag and brought it over Frenzy snatched it and the two squabbled while kneeling on either side of the medic, keeping his arms from hitting anyone at least. Soundwave plucked the pouch from them with a free cable and the two stopped, seeing their host watching them and exuding his impatience and annoyance. The twins glanced to one another, then back at Soundwave for his order.</p><p>He knew the pair wouldn’t stop until they ‘helped’. He offered a syringe from the pouch to them. The two immediately grabbed at it and Frenzy won it over, jabbing it into the Medic’s neck while Rumble pushed the plunger down. Almost instantly the mech grew sluggish and began to relax and slip into stasis. The pair gave each other a much earned ‘high five’ over the Autobot and stood up to try and look for more helpful tools they might be able to use.</p><p>Soundwave got right back to work patching up the medic, his focus now entirely on the light of the gun and the exact seals he would be making. He was still linked to the other’s sensornet through his neck’s port and closed out the most urgent notices as they had popped up as he corrected them. The most pressing issue then became the lack of energon in the other’s lines. They only had so many rations among them so Rumble and Frenzy, again being ever the helpful creations they were, volunteered to try and look through as much of the Autobot’s subspace compartments as they could find.</p><p>They came across two cubes, not very large in size, but enough to run a line into him once he was sealed. Soundwave became entirely absorbed in his task and before long he was sitting back and scanning the Autobot with his own scanner. He was sure to take logs of the other’s designation and full specs, as it could prove useful in the future. The Autobot was fully stabilized, so there was not much more to be done. He’d repaid any debt one could claim was owed for helping his creation, and then some. He stood up calmly and disconnected entirely from the medic and looked to his symbiotes as they chatted and turned over unique bits of medical equipment with interest.</p><p>:RETURN: His order left no room for argument. Reluctantly the twins grumbled and made their way over to Soundwave. It was fun while it lasted, they laughed and transformed back onto each of the former gladiator’s legs, kibble again rotating out to match with the other’s base shade of matte blue. Ratbat chittered more where he was resting with Laserbeak. He was noisy and cranky, having been interrupted during his recharge for this after all. Soundwave had to go to the two fliers instead, lowering and offering his forearms to them so they would rejoin without more complaint.</p><p>There. Finally. DONE. He could go. Soundwave looked over the messy scene he’d be leaving behind. Primus, the Autobot still looked like he was hanging on by a thread. Energon splattered everywhere, a rush-job of a mesh patch slapped on his front and back, a pained look worn on his resting face, and every piece of his medical equipment scattered around from the emptied medic-pack.</p><p>:You never were one to not clean up after yourself.: Ravage took great pleasure in teasing the other with exactly what he was thinking but didn’t want to admit to. :We have time.: Soundwave gave the quietest of ex-vents and, if Ravage didn’t know any better, stomped back over to the Autobot to start packing away all of the tools and supplies that his creations had scattered around. He organized everything as it went back into storage, even taking care to clean what he could with cloths on hand. There. FINALLY.</p><p>:That’s an awful lot of energon,: Ravage practically yawned. Soundwave snatched the rag back up and began to wipe up the medic, cleaning him more and getting rid of the copious amounts of liquid staining his chassis. In his rush he dislodged part of the mesh on the Autobot’s front, earning a pained hiss and some stirring from the doctor-turned-patient. The con held still and waited. He didn’t want to lash out if the other did, or all of his hard work would have been for naught. Luckily Ratchet settled back and he relaxed. Standing from the other he re-examined the scene once more.</p><p>:…. We are done here: He advised his creation. He pivoted to leave but he hesitated. He waited. He knew. He just KNEW Ravage was going to try something. What would it be this time? Hm? :What is your input: he demanded curtly.</p><p>:… You just going to leave him out in the open like that?: All of his creations flooded their bonds with amusement and Soundwave scraped his pedes as he turned around YET AGAIN to continue tending to this damned Autobot. He scooped him up easily and only briefly signaled some apology to Ratbat and Laserbeak that they had to help support the weight of the bot as he carried him to an outcropping of a wall that he could rest against.</p><p>Laserbeak sent her thanks calmly over her field and Soundwave relaxed. Ratchet would have done all of this for her. Soundwave nodded, though he mainly sent the acknowledgment through their bond anyway. He didn’t need to be teased into bringing the medical pack over at this point, knowing he had to tidy up or it would look half-assed. He brought it back to the Autobot and crouched down silently, propping the pack within arm’s length of the medic so he wouldn’t wonder where it was when he awoke.</p><p>There. Perfect. Done. He could leave now.</p><p>Except he couldn’t. Not with a servo gripping his wrist and piercing crystal blue optics wide open and trained on him. Wonderful. His ‘patient’ was WIDE awake.</p>
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